Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review
In Phoenix Wright, players take the role of a young defense attorney straight out of law school, making his great debut. Along with five trial cases the game also features investigative segments where Phoenix accumulates evidence and testimony as patronage of his client's case. These sections of the game usually bring forth drama and twists in the plot, as well as exposing some of Phoenix Wright's backdrop. One of the game's biggest strengths seems to be its wide array of characters. In the game you get a chance to meet some very unique personalities - from screwy characters like Larry Butz to unfortunate characters like Miles Edgeworth.
Immediately you'll notice the gameplay consist of little action. It's an extremely text heavy game, however, it makes up for it through quite an interesting plot. After all, who wants to buy a video game, broad in text, but refuses to deliver a great story? The script is surprisingly well written. It has to be one of the best of our time. It provides very humorous dialogue, and is very… scintillating.
Each of Phoenix Wright's five cases split into two parts: the investigation, and the trial. Each case will also have an introductory scene that will establish the victim and the suspect. Your clients are left "guilty, until proven innocent". This means you've got to find all of the evidence, find the inconclusive, and interpret the witness' testimony to the prosecution's case. The game takes freedom in how the legal system operates to make things more entertaining. For instance, a lawyer would normally not be allowed to sneak into a crime scene to gather more evidence, but in this game, due to Phoenix's growing friendship with the detective, you'll find you won't have to worry; you won't be disbarred. The investigative scenes usually involve Phoenix and his sidekick going to the scene of the crime, and attempting to get evidence. These parts are stylus driven, usually requiring close examination of several areas, and talking to witnesses, and drawing testimony or further evidence out of them (by pressing them on certain points, or presenting evidence at an appropriate time – this can be a slow and painful process in the latter cases). The final case gives players much greater level of interactivity, with fingerprinting and UV equipment for detecting finger prints and bloodstains. Eventually, the game's linearity will kick back in, and it'll be time to go to the courtroom.
The courtroom proceedings in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is based more around a civil law system, rather than a common law one. As a result, the judge is much more involved in the case. The judge in the game is often easily swayed by witnesses. The prosecution will run the witness through their account of the events, after which the player will have a shot at finding holes in the witness' testimony.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney uses a manga (Japanese graphic novel) style for the majority of its artwork, which suits the setting of the game near perfectly. I'm not much of an audiophile when it comes to in game sound effects, but the sound doesn't seem to excel the way one would expect throughout the game. For the most part it it's an easy on the ears, almost generic tone. It does tend to get a little more exciting when in the mist of a trial, however. Voice acting is done well, but very limited to the wails of "Objection!", "Hold it!", and "Take that!" by members of both defense and prosecution.
In the end you'll find drawbacks little in amount for a game like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I would assume its only ones are the fact it provides an extremely linear experience, and the very little replay value, as they are the only minor disputes I've had with the game. Anyhow, Phoenix Wright is something owners of the DS should consider needing a little more investigation.
